The Hundred Years' War

Hundred_Years'_War.jpg
Knight's HelmetKnight's_Helmet.jpg
Ploughing

Ploughing.jpg
This artifact shows King Edward III of England as a gilt-bronze statue. King Edward III had great military skills and many victories during his lifetime and is mainly what he's remembered for. But he wasn't always a leader of England though, Edward III claimed the crown in 1337 and soon after, battle began between France and England. This war is now none as the Hundred Years' War because it occurred from 1337 to 1453, around one hundred years long. There were some specific reasons as to why the war lasted as long as it did. For example, after the fighting had began economic rivalry and a need for national pride made it hard for either one of the sides to give up.
The economy was already very bad because of famine and the plague, but the war just made it worse. Many more people died causing the population to decrease even more than it already had in the past years. Having new weapons also raised the death rate from the war. Weapons like the longbow and cannon were 2 of these technological advances of the middle ages that helped them to move forward.
This knight's helmet is from Germany, in Ehrenberg Castle. This helmet is part of the standard armor that all knights wore during battle or in tournaments. At first, to become a knight any man could just by the ceremony called dubbing. But then limitations were created on who can and can not become a knight. Soon enough, the only way someone could be a knight is by being born into knighthood or he could also be dubbed a knight by royal decree. To be a knight in the Middle Ages was a great honor but was not always obtained by all knights.
To stay safe and protected knights wore heavy armor. At first the knights wore heavy chain mail, rigid place armor, and a complete body suit of metal armor. Having the full body suit increased the weight of the armor but a lot, so i would imagine that the knights couldn't move easily or fast at all.
Having knights was a way of protecting the people in a kingdom or empire. This helped to keep the economy working well and to protect the townspeople, which is very important for the people to survive. They needed the economy to trade goods and get all the necessities they needed to live.
This artifact shows farmers plowing, which was a very new concept inn the Middle Ages. A relief farmers furrowing the soil, is called ploughing, this invention is what helped farmers to be more efficient and was one of the earliest agricultural inventions. This technical advancement helped to boost the trade, crop growth and harvest during the middle ages. The economy grew better after the plow was invented and became popular because of how helpful it was to the working class. The plow was so popular and useful that it is still a very large part in agriculture and farming today.